Small Victories: Spotting Improbable Moments of Grace

I've been a huge fan of Anne Lamott ever since my wife introduced me to her books about four years ago. Our family spent several years going through a very difficult time--my oldest son's addiction--and reading Anne's books has been like therapy to me. This may sound silly, but I often times consider Anne to be my higher power. Her writing is so honest, thought provoking, and profound, full of themes like hope, faith, grace, family, and gratitude. (She is the reason I have "HOPE" and "FAITH" tattooed on my arms.) She also has a wicked sense of humor. For me the connection to Anne is there on so many levels."Small Victories: Spotting Improbable Moments of Grace" is a collection of new essays and selected pieces from Anne's older books. Through these essays Anne assures us that we can prevail over the pain and suffering in our lives, and that these small victories change us--for the better--along the way. While the stories she tells are about her own life, so much of what Anne writes resonates with me. (I went through almost a whole pad of Sticky Notes marking passages I don't want to forget.) Her take on the world is so refreshing and she writes about spirituality without making you feel like you're being hit over the head with a Bible.For example, in "Forgiven" Anne writes:"The Scripture reading came from the sixth chapter of Luke: 'Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven.' Now, try as I might, I cannot find a loophole in that. It does not say, 'Forgive everyone, unless they've said something rude about your child.' And it doesn't even say, 'Just try.' It says, If you want to be forgiven, if you want to experience that kind of love, you have to forgive everyone in your life--everyone, even the very worst boyfriend you ever had--even, for God's sake, yourself." Amen, Anne.You will find yourself thinking hard about a lot of lines/passages in this book. In "Trail Ducks," I found myself reading this line over and over again: "Getting found almost always means being lost for a while." In "Dad," this one really hit home: "Addicts and alcoholics will tell you that their recovery began when they woke up in pitiful and degraded enough shape to take Step Zero, which is: 'This s*** has got to stop.'"Of all the amazing words in "Small Victories," though, I think this passage from "Mom--Part One: Noraht" might be my favorite: "Grace means suddenly you're in a different universe from the one where you were stuck, and there was absolutely no way for you to get there on your own. When it happens--when you stop hating--you really have to pinch yourself."In "Market Street," Anne describes how she feels after praying: "I don't feel so alone. I feel better." That's exactly how I feel after reading an Anne Lamott book. And "Small Victories" is no exception. Thank you, Anne Lamott. Your words heal me and your books are like little treasures. "Small Victories" is no exception. It's a little first-aid kit between two covers."Right this minute, we understand that this is all there is, so let's really be together." --Anne Lamott

I carried this book (on Kindle) through a long multi-day train trip in the NW. It was like having a literary sushi bar right in my pocket. Don't look for a lot of connection between the chapters, which stood as individual sparkles. We heard about Sam, and Pammy, and Rev. Veronica, who feature in so much of Annie's work. I say "Annie" because if you haven't read her books before, you should understand that by the end of even a chapter, you are sitting on the train alongside the author as she reflects on these important people in her life. And she does this in a fully rounded fashion - we see not only her reactions, but vivid portraits of these moments, which almost always revolve around her relationship with the person (or dog).What stood out for me in this book were the chapters (these were linked) about her mother/her mother's ashes. Two sentences illustrate vintage Lamott writing: "My mother's ashes were given to us in a brown plastic box, sealed, with her name spelled wrong: Dorothy Noraht Wyles Lamott. Only her middle name was Norah, not Noraht..." The chapter is entitled "Mom Part 1: Noraht"; the next chapter is "Mom Part 2: Nikki." The deep portrait of her mother, told through anecdotes and experience -- and the powerful exploration by Lamott of her relationship with Mom, struck me particularly hard because I'd had similar experiences with my own mom. That's what Lamott's writing does for readers. We laugh as we cry.One of her conclusions about this difficult relationship was that she was achieving closure on (a) her mom's ashes and purse being around in her house (these were the vehicles for her account); and (b) the really unpleasant experiences they'd had. In a moment of clarity that defines this book, she writes, "Grace means suddenly you're in a different universe from the one where you were stuck, and there was absolutely no way for you to get there on your own. When it happens -- when you stop hating -- you really have to pinch yourself."

I appreciate author Anne Lamott because she writes about faith so simply and directly: “Jesus had an affinity for prisoners. He had been one, after all.” Or she writes something so honest, you just want to hug her because she seems to understand you: “I have sometimes considered writing a book called All the People I Still Hate: A Christian Perspective, but readers would recoil.”So I loved her collection of essays, Small Victories: Spotting Improbable Moments of Grace. Lamott just has a way of finding truth — and humor — in otherwise bland everyday moments like skiing poorly and airplane turbulence. Reading her work is like sipping tea; I joyfully savor it.My favorite pieces in the book were “Forgiven,” about her Enemy Lite, a seemingly perfect parent of another child in her son’s first grade class, and “Dad” which moved me to tears when she wrote about reading her father’s journal decades after his death. I also enjoyed “Matches,” about online dating (most of the time, I feel Lamott is my simpatico, but when she wrote that sex “is not on the women’s bucket lists. I’m sorry to have to tell you this,” I literally said out loud, “Ah, no. You are not speaking for all women”).One other small niggle: She regularly railed against President George W. Bush (apparently a number of the essays were written during his administration). I don’t particularly like him either, but her strongly negative feelings sometimes got in the way of her point. I began to wonder if the title of the book was a statement about the 2000 election. I imagine some readers might not be able to get past her politics.Still, if you’re looking for a dose of hope, joy and grace served up with a dash of humor and honesty, you might like Small Victories.

I like this book too like any other Anne Lamott non-fiction books. If you like Anne Lamott's writing, you are sure to like this one.

Beautiful writer, transports me the wonderful interior life. I love Ann Lamott. She is a gift.

Quirky, emotionally engaging, uplifting.

Thanks

This helped me to look for such moments in my life.